Ryuuou no Oshigoto! – 01

Just as I expected, Ryuuou no Oshigoto ended up being a super fun watch.

General Impressions

Before we get any further, let’s get all pedo-jokes out of the way. I’ll wait for a few seconds (even the other writers had to go and make lame jokes) for you to get it out of your system.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into the post! Unlike a lot of other shows that seem to take things a little too slow, I thought Ryuuou no Oshigoto did a great job at keeping things upbeat as it introduced us to the world and the characters that take part in it. From start to finish, I don’t think there was a single boring moment and for a show that revolves around Shogi and the characters who play it, I think that’s a definite plus.

Moving onto the story itself, I loved how it feels like we’re entering this underdog kind of scenario for both Ai and Yaichi. While the former’s situation is a little atypical since she’s apparently a naturally gifted Shogi player (and in general I’d say Genius), it was nice to see the latter stuck in a tricky spot as well. Because as we got deeper into the episode, I was genuinely wondering how the story was going to handle Yaichi as the youngest Ryuuou ever to win the title. Luckily, he ends up being a rather humble human being who lets the stresses of being Number One get to him just like all of us do. Underdog stories aside, I’m also really surprised just how much I liked Ai as a character. Not only is she full of charm, but the way she doesn’t back from challenges (or challengers like Ginko) had me rooting for her with so much gusto that I’m almost ashamed to admit it.

Somehow, with all these things mixed together, you have this energetic and fun show that you can’t help but want to watch more of. And sure, while this may not be anything like 3-Gatsu no Lion, I think that’s a great thing since Ryuuou no Oshigoto rolls with what it’s good with and doesn’t stop. Anyways, I’ll probably catch you guys next week where we’ll get to see just how well Yaichi does during his match against the Knight of Shogi while Ai takes on people closer to her age. See you (probably) then!

The vibe seemed more like a Shogi no 3P than a Ryuuou-Kyuu-Bu! Not knowing the source material, apart from apparently Ai being comfortable walking around naked because she was brought up in an onsen, it’s difficult to see which way this will go – more emphasis on naked hi-jinks and reputed love triangles or more emphasis on shogi. Given the mainly likeable characters and the perfectly fine animation I think I’d be OK with either.

LN readers say the shogi games are the main appeal of Ryuou, even if it uses lolis to entice readers.
Its creator, Shiratori Shirou of Nourin fame, reportedly spent several years intensely
researching shogi to write his novel, and even credits multiple shogi personalities and champions in the afterwords of Vol 1 who helped him in his research.

Naked loli right off the bat doesn’t exactly sit well with me. But this LN seems to be quite popular, and the character designs are nice. Is it worth a shot? I really would rather not force down a bunch of pedo misunderstandings for a subpar shogi anime.

Naked Loli aside– and away from encroaching pedobears– I like the character designs, and it’s nice seeing a show where the MC has already achieved his goal and is finding a new one. One of the better episode 1′s this season but Violet Evergarden still takes that honor.

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